It was the darkest moment in Malta's history. In 1942, the island was potholed with bombs dropped by German and Italian aircraft in an attempt to neutralise the British bases in Malta. By then Malta was believed to be the most bombed place in the world per square mile during what was known as the darkest period for the Allies in the fight against the Nazis. Food rations in Malta were practically finished, and the population was…

BLOG BY Victor Borg, MCCV President We have been approached by many of our community members complaining of the inordinate delays they are experiencing in the processing of their Maltese citizenship application by the government agency Identity Malta. Recent media reports from Malta have confirmed that delays can extend beyond a two-year period with no acknowledgement or contact from the Maltese government agency on the status and progress of their application in the meantime. Not providing status…

On 2nd March 2017 SBS published the final selection criteria for SBS Radio services following the public consultation that closed on 11 December ;The only changes made to the draft criteria relate to allowing SBS flexibility to increase the number of high needs languages to more than 15, if funding permits; taking into greater consideration the English language proficiency of new arrivals and older migrants; and reducing the weighting of household income as a secondary indicator…

The Maltese government agency, Identity Malta, has been inundated with applications for Maltese citizenship and is struggling to cope with the volume. The agency is responsible for the processing of such applications which have drastically increased over the last years. In an article published on 23 January 2017, the Times of Malta reported receiving various complaints from applicants complaining that their requests for citizenship have been “stuck for years” at Identity Malta. The newspaper was informed…

Maltese community leaders in Victoria and New South Wales presented a joint submission to SBS Radio in response to the draft Language Selection Criteria 2016/17, calling for an overhaul of the draft criteria. In their view, the criteria are “fundamentally flawed, grossly inequitable and unfairly disadvantageous to communities of medium to small size”. They believe that a complete makeover is necessary to ensure a fairer and more equitable distribution of radio broadcasting hours among the communities.…